Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 07:59:27 -0400
http://www.bu.edu/pardeeschool/2014/07/20/pardee-school-woldemariam-eritrea/
Prof. Woldemariam publishes research on lessons from Eritrean War
July 20th, 2014
New research published by Assistant Professor Michael Woldemariam, of the
Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, in the
journal Terrorism and Political Violence, brings out a new and more refined
understanding of how battlefield losses, stalemates and victories change
the patters of fragmentation and consolidation within rebel groups in
factional rebel organizations.
Using the case of the Eritrean Independence War, Prof. Woldemariam's paper
- titled, 'Battlefield Outcomes and Rebel Cohesion: Lessons from the
Eritrean Independence War' - sheds new and important light on a topic that
is not only of historical significance to the Eritrean situation but has
current bearing on situations across South and Central Asia and across the
Middle East and many parts of contemporary Africa.
The abstract for the paper explains the argument:
This article uses data from the Eritrean War for independence to refine
existing theories of rebel fragmentation. The author argues organizational
performance affects the emergence of factional infighting within rebel
organizations in unique and novel ways. While battlefield losses increase
the likelihood of internal fragmentation, so do battlefield gains.
The implication is battlefield stalemates possess unique properties that
promote organizational cohesion in war, a relationship this study refers to
as "cohesive stalemates." The article extends an emerging literature on the
internal politics of insurgent groups that has linked the coherence of
rebel organizations to rebel losses
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